Stimulant, opioid, benzodiazepine, and alcohol-related deaths
Over the past decade, the rate of substance-related toxicity deaths have dramatically increased. In our previous report, we observed a total of 8,767 accidental substance-related toxicity deaths involving alcohol, stimulants, benzodiazepines, and/or opioids between 2018 and 2021 in Ontario, with annual substance-related toxicity deaths almost doubling from 1,586 in 2018 to 2,886 in 2021.
With the availability of enhanced data on all substance-related toxicity deaths, there is an urgent need to better understand interactions with the healthcare system for non-fatal substance-related toxicities. This second report of our joint three-report series by the ODPRN and Public Health Ontario describes prior prescribing patterns, previous substance use diagnoses, non-fatal substance-related toxicities and access to treatment(s) prior to accidental substance-related toxicity deaths involving opioids, benzodiazepines, stimulants and/or alcohol in Ontario between January 2018 and June 2022.
Citation
Holton A, Gomes T, Leece P, Yang J, Hamzat B, Ledlie S, Boyd R, Bozinoff N, Doucette T, Franklyn M, Kolla G, Newcombe P, Pinkerton S, Regehr T, Schneider E, Shearer D, Singh S, Smoke A, Wynne W, on behalf of the Ontario Drug Policy Research Network and Ontario Agency for Health Protection and Promotion (Public Health Ontario). Prescribing patterns, substance use disorder diagnoses and access to treatment prior to substance-related toxicity deaths in Ontario. Toronto, ON: Ontario Drug Policy Research Network; 2024. DOI: 10.31027/ODPRN.2024.02.
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Date Released: March 5, 2024